Croatia Airlines with a loss of €64.7 million: more passengers, but increasingly expensive operations
The Croatian national airline carried seven per cent more passengers in the first nine months of 2026, but its financial performance was significantly worse than last year. The loss incurred during the summer season is particularly noteworthy.
Croatia Airlines ended the first nine months of 2026 with a net loss of €64.7 million, €43.8 million more than in the same period last year. The loss has more than tripled, even though the company increased passenger numbers and improved aircraft load factors.
Total revenues reached €227.9 million, while expenses rose to €292.6 million. The company is simultaneously facing fleet renewal costs, higher fuel bills and additional financial obligations.
Losses are growing faster than turnover.
January – September · millions of euros · greater length means greater loss
Source: Croatia Airlines' financial results for the first nine months of 2026. The lengths of all columns are shown on the same scale (€64.7 million = 100%).
In the first nine months, 1,656,468 passengers were carried, approximately 103,000 more than a year earlier. The greatest growth was in international scheduled services, with 1.24 million passengers and a nine per cent increase. Domestic traffic remained roughly at last year's level, while charter traffic fell by six per cent.
The passenger load factor rose to 67.5 per cent. However, the average gross ticket price fell by one per cent, so the increase in traffic did not generate enough additional revenue to cover the higher costs. Operating revenues rose by eight per cent, but total expenses grew even faster, by 18 per cent.
Fuel and maintenance have the greatest impact on the result.
The largest single increase in costs was recorded for fuel, at €20.7 million more than in the corresponding period. Croatia Airlines attributes part of the pressure to jet fuel price movements and the geopolitical situation in the Middle East. More was also spent on aircraft maintenance, depreciation and air traffic services.
Change compared with January–September 2025 · millions of euros
Source: Croatia Airlines. Only selected categories of cost increases are shown, not the overall expenditure structure; the scale is relative to the largest increase.
An additional burden is represented by financing costs. Net financing costs have increased by approximately €16 million, primarily due to negative foreign exchange differences and interest associated with the long-term lease of new aircraft. This explains why the net result is significantly worse than the operating one.
The summer season did not bring a turnaround.
From July to September, during the period of peak tourist demand, Croatia Airlines generated €98.8 million in revenue and €113.9 million in expenses. The net loss for the third quarter amounted to approximately €15 million, compared with €2.9 million a year earlier.
Such a result shows that even stronger summer traffic was not enough to neutralise cost pressures. It is therefore crucial for the carrier not only to increase load factor but also to generate revenue per seat that covers operating and financing costs.
The transition to the Airbus A220 has yet to take full effect.
At the end of September the company had an operating fleet of 17 aircraft: nine Airbus A220-300s, two A220-100s, four A319s and two Dash 8-Q400s. During the first nine months it took delivery of four new Airbus A220s.
The new fleet should, in the long term, enable more efficient operations and lower fuel consumption per seat. However, during the transition period, the parallel use of different aircraft types introduces additional complexity and costs. Modernisation alone therefore does not guarantee a better outcome: what matters is how much the new aircraft will be used, on which routes and what revenues they generate.
Liquidity supported by additional financing
As of 30 September, Croatia Airlines had €20.4 million in cash. In the first nine months it received €35 million in state capitalisation, and the sale and lease-back of two spare engines generated an additional €25.7 million. At the end of October, a further capital increase of €35 million was approved.
Such sources of financing enable operations to continue during fleet renewal, but also emphasise the importance of improving regular cash flows. For travel agencies, tour operators and other partners, it is important that the national carrier can maintain a reliable network of routes and year-round connectivity.
The results for 2026 do not prove that the investment in the A220 will not deliver the expected benefits. They do, however, show how costly the transition is and how important fleet utilisation, cost management and revenue quality will be for a more sustainable business model. Performance in 2027 will be an important indicator of the renewal's actual effectiveness.
Source: Financial report of Croatia Airlines
